Direct acting gas regulator

ABSTRACT

A direct acting pressure regulator controls the flow of a gas from a high pressure source to a low pressure device. Gas is delivered from the regulator at a predetermined outlet pressure. The regulator includes a body having a high pressure inlet and defining a seat. A bonnet is engageable with the body to define a piston chamber within the body and the bonnet. The bonnet has a regulated gas outlet. A piston is disposed within the piston chamber and defines a gap between the piston and a wall defining the chamber. The piston is movable between an open regulator condition and a closed regulator condition. The piston includes a plug having a sealing surface engageable with the seat and movable toward the seat to the closed regulator condition and away from the seat to the open regulator condition. The plug includes axially disposed openings therein for communicating gas from around the plug to a central longitudinal bore in the piston. The piston has an impingement surface in flow communication with the central bore such that gas pressure on the impingement surface exerts a force on the piston to move the piston to the closed regulator condition. A spring urges the piston to the open regulator condition.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/653,592,filed Sept. 2, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,851,447.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a novel pressure regulator. Moreparticularly, the present invention relates to a linear, direct actingpressure regulator for use in paint ball guns that use compressed gas tofire projectiles. The present invention is also adapted for use withother pressurized gas devices.

Sporting events that provide the participant with an adventure inmilitary strategy and the feel of the fear and exhilaration of battlehave become very popular. Generally participants are equipped with a gasprojectile gun or rifle (which can launch a projectile without seriouslyharming the victim) and protective gear and are divided into two or morecombat groups each with the goal of surviving the others.

One such sporting event is commonly referred to as “paintball”. In thisevent, participants fire paint-filled projectile balls at one another.In a typical paintball event, participants fire projectiles, orpaintballs, at one another and, when struck, are “painted” by the paintball. The objective of such an event is to be the last person that hasnot been “painted” or hit with a projectile.

Typically, the projectiles used in these events are propelled, generallyusing a compressed gas to avoid the potential dangers of explosives suchas gun powder. The dangers of explosives include not only the physicaldanger of the explosion but also the increased speed that suchexplosions impart to projectiles, potentially making innocuousprojectiles, such as paintballs, deadly. Moreover, compressed gas isless costly than explosives and is readily obtainable.

When these types of systems are used, compressed gas is provided orsupplied from a high-pressure source carried by the participant in a gasbottle. Although high-pressure gas is needed at the gun firing mechanismto propel the paint balls, typically the pressure in these bottles isgreater than the pressure needed to safely propel the projectile withinthe parameters of the game. As such, it is necessary to regulate thepressure of the compressed gas provided to the gun firing mechanism toallow projectiles to be launched at a safer velocity and prevent damageto the gun. Typically, a regulator is provided, mounted to the gun orthe compressed gas bottle. That is, it is carried by the gameparticipant.

Known pressure regulator can be quite large and as such can addconsiderable weight to the gun. In that one of the objectives of paintball is to avoid one's opponent, any added weight is undesirable. Inaddition, such large, highly machined regulators can be quite costly.

Moreover, although many such regulators in fact function well toregulate and reduce pressure from the bottle to the firing mechanism,often such pressure regulation or reduction is rough. That is, theoutlet pressure is typically within a range that is specified for theparticular gun. However, there remains an “optimum” pressure for themechanism to operate.

Accordingly, there exists a need for a low cost, highly accuratepressure regulator. Desirably, such a regulator is sufficiently smalland light-weight so that it does not increase, to any extent, the weightcarried by a participant in a paint ball sporting event.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A direct acting pressure regulator controls the flow of a gas from ahigh pressure source to a low pressure device. Gas is delivered from theregulator at a predetermined outlet pressure. The present regulatorprovides a low cost, highly accurate pressure regulating device that issufficiently small and light-weight so that it does not increase, to anyextent, the weight carried by a participant in a paint ball sportingevent.

The regulator includes a body having a high pressure inlet and defininga seat. Preferably, the seat is conical. A bonnet is engageable with thebody to define a piston chamber within the body and the bonnet. Thebonnet has a regulated gas outlet.

A piston is disposed within the piston chamber and defines a gap betweenthe piston and a wall defining the chamber. The piston is movablebetween an open regulator condition and a closed regulator condition.The piston includes a support or plug having a sealing surfaceengageable with the seat and movable toward the seat to the closedregulator condition and away from the seat to the open regulatorcondition. The plug includes axially disposed openings therein forcommunicating gas from around the plug to a central longitudinal bore inthe piston. The sealing surface can be formed as a disk or as aresilient spherical (ball-shaped) element.

The piston has an impingement surface in flow communication with thecentral bore such that gas pressure on the impingement surface exerts aforce on the piston to move the piston to the closed regulatorcondition. A spring urges the piston to the open regulator condition. Ina present regulator, the spring is disposed within the piston chamber.

A pin valve can be disposed within the central longitudinal bore in thepiston. The pin valve permits removal of the regulator from thedownstream device without loss of pressure.

A present regulator includes a first seal disposed between the plug andthe piston chamber and a second seal disposed between the impingementsurface and the piston chamber. The piston includes a shoulder forengaging a stop surface within the bonnet to define the open regulatorcondition. The shoulder is disposed between the first and second seals.

In a preferred embodiment, a guide sleeve is formed as part of the bodyand is configured for receiving a portion of the piston. The sealbetween the plug and the piston chamber is disposed at about the guidesleeve. The guide sleeve extends into the piston chamber.

To maintain the regulator as a compact, efficient unit, the highpressure inlet and the regulated gas outlet are collinear with oneanother.

These and other features and advantages of the present invention will beapparent from the following detailed description, in conjunction withthe appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The benefits and advantages of the present invention will become morereadily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the relevant art afterreviewing the following detailed description and accompanying drawings,wherein:

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a direct acting gas regulatorembodying the principles of the present invention, the regulator beingshown in the closed condition;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the regulator shown in the opencondition; and

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of an alternate embodiment of thedirect acting gas regulator.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

While the present invention is susceptible of embodiment in variousforms, there is shown in the drawings and will hereinafter be describeda presently preferred embodiment with the understanding that the presentdisclosure is to be considered an exemplification of the invention andis not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodimentillustrated.

It should be further understood that the title of this section of thisspecification, namely, “Detailed Description Of The Invention”, relatesto a requirement of the United States Patent Office, and does not imply,nor should be inferred to limit the subject matter disclosed herein.

Referring to the figures and briefly to FIG. 2, a present regulator 10is shown in the open condition such that a regulated flow path,indicated generally at 12, is provided from a high pressure gas sourceto a downstream device such as a paint ball gun or the like. Thecontrolled downstream pressure is regulated essentially regardless ofthe higher upstream pressure.

The regulator 10 includes generally, a main body 14, a biased pistonassembly 16 and a bonnet 18. The body 14 and bonnet 18 threadedly engageone another to seal the regulator 10 as a unit. A piston chamber 20 isdefined within the sealed together body 14 and bonnet 18, and the pistonassembly 16 is disposed within the chamber 20. A spring 22 is disposedabout the piston assembly 16, between the piston 16 and the body 14, tobias the piston 16 (and the regulator 10) to the open condition as willbe discussed in more detail below.

A pin valve 24 is disposed within a central, longitudinal bore,indicated generally at 26 in the piston assembly 16. The pin valve,which will be recognized by those skilled in the art, provides asealable flow path from the regulator 10 to the down stream device. Thepin valve 24 is maintained within the piston bore 26 by a spring (notshown) to bias the pin valve 24 closed. The pin valve 24 permitsremoving or separating the regulator 10 from the downstream device(e.g., the paint ball gun) without loss of gas pressure.

Gas flows into the regulator 10 through a high pressure inlet port 28 atthe body side 14 of the regulator 10. The inlet port 28 opens into aplug chamber 30. A seat 32 defines the entry into the plug chamber 30.The seat 32 can be formed having a generally conical shape with angledor inclined sides 33 terminating at a flat or relatively flat end 35.

The plug chamber 30 is configured to accommodate a plug portion 34 ofthe piston 16. The plug portion 34 is formed at an end of the piston 16and serves as a support for a sealing disk 36 within an end of the plug34. The sealing disk 36 can be formed from a resilient material such asurethane or the like to form a gas-tight seal when the disk 36 is seatedon the seat 32.

The plug 34 and plug chamber 30 are dimensioned and configured such thata gap, indicated generally at 38, is defined between the plug 34 and thechamber 30 wall. The gap 38 defines a portion of the flow path 12.Openings 40 are formed in the sides of the plug 34 that provide a flowpath into the center (e.g., central bore 26) of the piston 16. In thismanner, when the piston 16 is moved away from the seat 32 (when the disk36 is disengaged from the seat 32), the flow path is established throughthe seat 32, around the plug 34, into the openings 40 and into thepiston central bore 26. A seal 42, such as a neoprene O-ring, ispositioned on the piston 16 between the piston 16 and the wall thatdefines the plug chamber 30. In this manner, gas is precluded fromflowing in to the piston chamber 20 from around the plug 34.

The regulator 10 includes a low pressure region indicated generally at44 in FIG. 1, (within the piston chamber 20) and a regulated pressureregion, indicated generally at 46 in FIGS. 1 and 2, separated from thelow pressure region 44 by the plug seal 42 and a piston seal 48 at anopposing end of the piston 16. The regulated pressure region 46 includesan impingement surface 50 against which the (pressure) regulated gasexerts a force for moving the piston 16 to the closed position. Thepiston 16 includes a shoulder 52 that engages a stop surface 54 withinthe bonnet 18 to prevent the piston 16 from moving beyond the opencondition. A guide sleeve 57 is formed in the body 14 that extends intothe piston chamber 20 from about the plug chamber 30. The sleeve 57defines a guide for movement of the piston 16 toward and away from theseat 32 and further provides a surface against which the seal 42 acts.

The regulator 10 can include a high pressure over pressurization device56 and a regulated pressure over pressurization device 58, such as theillustrated, exemplary high pressure and regulated pressure burst disks.Gas exits the regulator 10 through a regulated pressure outlet 62 at thebonnet side 18. As seen in the figures, the inlet 28 and outlet 62 aresubstantially collinear with one another.

In operation, referring first to FIG. 1, the regulator 10 is shown inthe closed condition. This is the condition of the regulator when theoutlet side pressure is at the desired or preset pressure. The outletpressure on the regulated side exerts a force on the impingement surface50 that is sufficiently high to offset the spring 22 force (i.e.,compress the spring). This in turn urges the sealing disk 36 against theseat 32 to stop or isolate flow through the regulator 10.

When the pressure on the regulated side 46 begins to decrease (such aswhen the pin valve 24 is opened), the gas pressure exerts a lesser forceon the impingement surface 50. The spring 22 force thus overcomes thegas pressure force which in turn urges the piston 16 (to the right asseen in the figures) to move the plug 34 and sealing disk 36 off of theseat 32. As the disk 36 moves away from the seat 32, the flow path 12 isestablished allowing gas to flow over the seat 32, and into the space(gap) 38 between the plug 34 and plug chamber 30 walls. Gas then flowsthrough the plug openings 40 and into the piston central opening 26. Thegas flows around the pin 24 and into the outlet region 60 of theregulator 10, exerting a force on the impingement surface 50. As the gaspressure at the outlet region 60 increases, the force exerted on theimpingement surface 50 likewise increases until that force is sufficientto overcome the spring 22 force to urge the piston 16 closed (i.e., tothe left as seen in the figures).

In that the present regulator 10 is intended to be a relatively low costunit, the pressure of the gas exiting at the outlet 62 or the regulatedgas pressure cannot be adjusted by any adjusting mechanism within theregulator 10. Rather, in order to adjust the outlet pressure, the pistonspring 22 is replaced with a spring having a desired spring force.However, as will be recognized and appreciated from a study of thefigures and the above description, changing the spring 22 is readilyaccomplished by opening the regulator 10, replacing the spring 22 aroundthe piston 16 and resealing the regulator 10.

As set forth above, the disk 36 and various seals (or O-rings) 42, 48are formed from a resilient, polymeric material, such as neoprene andthe like. The various pressure retaining and structural elements areformed from metals, such as steel, aluminum and the like. Those skilledin the art will recognize other materials from which the regulator 10and components can be formed.

Referring now to FIG. 3, there is shown an alternate embodiment of thedirect acting gas regulator 110. This embodiment is similar to theembodiment 10 illustrated in FIGS. 1–2, except for the main spring andplug. As is seen in FIG. 3, in this embodiment, spring washers(belleville springs) 122 are used in lieu of a coil spring 22. Inaddition, a spherical element (e.g., a ball) 136 formed from nylon oranother resilient material is used in place of the disk 36. It has beenfound that such spherical elements made from such resilient materialsare readily commercially available (e.g., as, for example, nylon ballbearings) and the use of these can result in reduced cost and greaterregulator operating precision due to manufacturing tolerances. Theremaining portions of the regulator 110 are identical or similar to thatof the previous embodiment 10. Changes, to elements may be required to,for example, provide support for the belleville springs 122 or to thesupport or plug 134 to provide a cradle for the resilient ball sealingelement 136.

All patents referred to herein, are hereby incorporated herein byreference, whether or not specifically done so within the text of thisdisclosure.

In the present disclosure, the words “a” or “an” are to be taken toinclude both the singular and the plural. Conversely, any reference toplural items shall, where appropriate, include the singular.

From the foregoing it will be observed that numerous modifications andvariations can be effectuated without departing from the true spirit andscope of the novel concepts of the present invention. It is to beunderstood that no limitation with respect to the specific embodimentsillustrated is intended or should be inferred. The disclosure isintended to cover by the appended claims all such modifications as fallwithin the scope of the claims.

1. A direct acting pressure regulator for controlling the flow of a gasfrom a high pressure source to a low pressure device, the gas beingdelivered from the regulator at a predetermined outlet pressure,comprising: a body having a high pressure inlet and defining a seat; abonnet engageable with the body to define a piston chamber within thebody and the bonnet, the bonnet having a regulated gas outlet; a pistondisposed within the piston chamber and defining a gap between the pistonand a wall defining the chamber, the piston movable between an openregulator condition and a closed regulator condition, the pistonincluding a plug having a sealing element with a sealing surfaceengageable with the seat and movable toward the seat to the closedregulator condition to close a flow path through the regulator and awayfrom the seat to the open regulator condition to open the flow paththrough the regulator, the plug having radially disposed openingstherein for communicating gas from around the plug to a centrallongitudinal bore in the piston, the piston having an impingementsurface in flow communication with the central bore such that gaspressure on the impingement surface exerts a force on the piston to movethe piston to the closed regulator condition; a spring for urging thepiston to the open regulator condition; and a pin valve disposed withinthe central longitudinal bore in the piston.
 2. The direct actingpressure regulator in accordance with claim 1 wherein the spring isdisposed within the piston chamber.
 3. The direct acting pressureregulator in accordance with claim 1 wherein the sealing element is adisk.
 4. The direct acting pressure regulator in accordance with claim 3wherein the disk is formed from a resilient material.
 5. The directacting pressure regulator in accordance with claim 1 wherein the sealingelement is a ball element.
 6. The direct acting pressure regulator inaccordance with claim 5 wherein the ball element is formed from aresilient material.
 7. The direct acting pressure regulator inaccordance with claim 1 including a first seal disposed between the plugand the piston chamber and a second seal disposed between theimpingement surface and the piston chamber.
 8. The direct actingpressure regulator in accordance with claim 1 wherein the pistonincludes a shoulder for engaging a stop surface within the bonnet todefine the open regulator condition.
 9. The direct acting pressureregulator in accordance with claim 7 including a guide sleeve formed aspart of the body and configured for receiving a portion of the piston,and wherein the seal between the plug and the piston chamber is disposedat about the guide sleeve.
 10. The direct acting pressure regulator inaccordance with claim 1 including a guide sleeve formed as part of thebody, the guide sleeve extending into the piston chamber.
 11. The directacting pressure regulator in accordance with claim 1 wherein the highpressure inlet and the regulated gas outlet are collinear with oneanother.
 12. A direct acting pressure regulator for controlling the flowof a gas from a high pressure source to a low pressure device, the gasbeing delivered from the regulator at a predetermined outlet pressure,comprising: a body having a high pressure inlet and defining a seat; abonnet engageable with the body to define a piston chamber within thebody and the bonnet, the bonnet having a regulated gas outlet; a pistondisposed within the piston chamber and defining a gap between the pistonand a wall defining the chamber, the piston movable between an openregulator condition and a closed regulator condition, the pistonincluding a plug having a sealing element with a sealing surfaceengageable with the seat and movable toward the seat to the closedregulator condition to close a flow path through the regulator and awayfrom the seat to the open regulator condition to open the flow paththrough the regulator, the plug having radially disposed openingstherein for communicating gas from around the plug to a centrallongitudinal bore in the piston, the piston having an impingementsurface in flow communication with the central bore such that gaspressure on the impingement surface exerts a force on the piston to movethe piston to the closed regulator condition; a spring for urging thepiston to the oven regulator condition; a first seal disposed betweenthe plug and the piston chamber and a second seal disposed between theimpingement surface and the piston chamber, wherein the piston includesa shoulder for engaging a stop surface within the bonnet to define theopen regulator condition, and wherein the shoulder is disposed betweenthe first and second seals.
 13. The direct acting pressure regulator inaccordance with claim 1 wherein the spring is a coil spring.
 14. Thedirect acting pressure regulator in accordance with claim 1 wherein thespring is formed as a stack of washer-shaped spring elements.
 15. Thedirect acting pressure regulator in accordance with claim 14 wherein thesealing element is a resilient ball element.